Document processing is currently the most prevalent application of computer technology. Examples of state of the art word processing technology include the WordPerfect.RTM. text processor and the Word text processor from Microsoft.RTM. Corporation. These products are designed to run on various operating systems and different hardware platforms. Some of the hardware platforms and operating systems are less reliable then others. To avoid loss of data or other information, these products have a backup capability that can be enabled at system setup. The backup occurs when a user specified time elapses, if a user selects to enable the capability. If the system has a failure between backups, then the information since the last backup is lost.